Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Michael Chambers (center), owner of the new Aldevron facility in South Fargo, is pictured at the opening last Tuesday. Chambers, a 1993 graduate of Carrington High School, is with four of his high school instructors at CHS, who represented Carrington at the ceremonies. From left, Joel Lemer, Kristi Frahm, Pat Boehmer and Andy Braaten. Michael Chambers (center), owner of the new Aldevron facility in South Fargo, is pictured at the opening last Tuesday. Chambers, a 1993 graduate of Carrington High School, is with four of his high school instructors at CHS, who represented Carrington at the ceremonies. From left, Joel Lemer, Kristi Frahm, Pat Boehmer and Andy Braaten. Michael Chambers (center), owner of the new Aldevron facility in South Fargo, is pictured at the opening last Tuesday. Chambers, a 1993 graduate of Carrington High School, is with four of his high school instructors at CHS, who represented Carrington at the ceremonies. From left, Joel Lemer, Kristi Frahm, Pat Boehmer and Andy Braaten. Michael Chambers (center), owner of the new Aldevron facility in South Fargo, is pictured at the opening last Tuesday. Chambers, a 1993 graduate of Carrington High School, is with four of his high school instructors at CHS, who represented Carrington at the ceremonies. From left, Joel Lemer, Kristi Frahm, Pat Boehmer and Andy Braaten.
If you walk around the new headquarters of Aldevron, you'll see slight reminders of what introduced Mike Chambers to his lifelong passion.
"My grandparents and my parents were commercial beekeepers. I'm from Carrington, N.D., originally, and beekeeping is what really got me interested in science," said Mike Chambers, the co-founder and CEO of Aldevron.
That fascination with science led him to start Aldevron with classmate John Ballantyne as they were about to graduate from North Dakota State Universtiy in 1998.
"The company's really been built brick by brick over the course of 20 years, so we built the organization by listening to our clients, listening to the industry, understanding what's required, what they need," said Chambers.
Eventually, Aldevron became one of the biggest players in the biotech community, as the three approved gene therapy program all used DNA manufactured by the company.Now with a brand new 70,000 square foot headquarters that is the largest DNA manufacturing facility in the world, Aldevron has put Fargo at the forefront of genetic innovations.
"When we compare ourselves to Boston, the difference in Fargo is that we all work together because we want everyone to be successful, and we love it when a company like this starts up and starts growing and gets bigger and bigger and bigger," said Mayor Tim Mahoney of Fargo.
The new facility gives Aldevron the ability to manufacture the same amount of DNA in one month that the company churned together in 20 years. The DNA produced at the company could lead to the cures of many different diseases.
"A lot of children for instance are thankfully alive today because of new cancer research that didn't exist six, seven, eight years ago, and to be a small part of that is the highest honor," said Chambers.
The new facility includes 17,000 square feet worth of clean rooms, as well as an HVAC system that purifies the air to make it 10,000 times cleaner than in the average home. (KVRR News, Fargo)
